"We are told that cholesterol is a major cause of heart disease. At least 40 million people are currently taking cholesterol-lowering medications, known as statins, and millions more people are avoiding foods that contain saturated fat and cholesterol.

The basic idea is that dietary saturated fat raises cholesterol levels, and these two substances somehow clog-up our arteries, causing a heart attack.

This idea is often referred to as the diet-heart hypothesis. However, a numbers of doctors and researchers have been challenging this hypothesis for decades, and the latest heart disease statistics reveal some alarming facts.

Cholesterol-lowering has become a huge global industry, generating at least $29 billion each year. Have the facts about heart disease, cholesterol and cholesterol medications been distorted by pharmaceutical companies and food manufacturers keen to increase their profits?"

My dentist was telling me about his research which found a correlation between diabetes, gingivitis, and heart disease linked to a certain gene. He found that in some people, smoking will trigger gum disease, but not in others, depending on a specific hereditary gene, and it may well be the case with heart disease too, that some are more prone than others.

The rationale of the "health" industry does have a tendency to overemphasise one "cause" over and against the combination of contributory factors, hence the inflation of cost in those highlighted areas.

we cannot get rid of God because we still believe in grammar - Nietzsche

Do the research, the facts have been distorted terribly. Cholesterol has never been proven to be a factor in heart disease, statins are responsible for diabetes, heart disease, muscle wasting, dementia, etc. This is not news, however, the myth seems about to be debunked in the main stream. The alternative folks have been talking about this for years.

seemingly another scam by the money making corporations to fool people and make money out of them.

If the thought of demons Never rises in your mind, You need not fear the demon hosts around you. It is most important to tame your mind within....

In so far as the Ultimate, or the true nature of being is concerned, there are neither buddhas or demons. He who frees himself from fear and hope, evil and virtue, will realize the insubstantial and groundless nature of confusion. Samsara will then appear as the mahamudra itself….

futerko wrote:My dentist was telling me about his research which found a correlation between diabetes, gingivitis, and heart disease linked to a certain gene. He found that in some people, smoking will trigger gum disease, but not in others, depending on a specific hereditary gene, and it may well be the case with heart disease too, that some are more prone than others.

The rationale of the "health" industry does have a tendency to overemphasise one "cause" over and against the combination of contributory factors, hence the inflation of cost in those highlighted areas.

"GLOBAL health-care giant Johnson & Johnson will pay more than $A2.3 billion to settle allegations that it fraudulently promoted drugs and used kickbacks to promote their sales. In one of the largest health-care fraud settlements in US history, J&J's criminal and civil fine covers allegations the company marketed Risperdal and other prescription drugs for uses not approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The settlement further covers kickbacks J&J allegedly paid to physicians and pharmacies for prescribing and promoting those drugs, the US Justice Department said on Monday. The actions resulted in millions of dollars paid under Medicaid, the government health-insurance program for low-income and disabled people, causing losses to both the federal and state governments. "This global settlement resolves multiple investigations involving the antipsychotic drugs Risperdal and Invega - as well as the heart drug Natrecor and other Johnson & Johnson products"

The Wall street journal

Its a game of cat and mouse, they take the risk, the chances of being caught are slim. These huge health care giants are a law unto themselves but on the very rare occassion they are called to account, then they have to cough up big bucks!

Academic dishonesty and poorly designed trials are rampant. Unfortunately I cannot reject papers from most of the people who pass through our labs because the school has an expected pass rate. The upper division classes have to produce reports and I have to look past the fact that virtually nothing they cite is peer reviewed because apparently peer review is a thing of the past and all that matters is if you pay money to have it published.

And there's my rant for the night.

If there is a radical inconsistency between your statements and the position you claim to hold,you are a sock puppet.Make as many accounts as you want; people can identify your deception with this test.

Originally it was a simple mistake, not a sinister corporate plot to addict people to products. There is a correlation between triglycerides, cholesterol and heart disease. They simply did not factor in carbohydrates being converted to triglycerides in the liver in conjunction with the oxidative stress of high blood sugar. When this was discovered the science simply wasn't there.

The REAL problems is lazy voters did something very stupid. They stopped funding academic research and turned it over to the private sector. How anyone thought for profit drug companies would want to cure diseases is a mystery to me. They have always wanted profits. Go to them for hair growth tonics and boner pills. The problem is you thinking that you can get fundamental research done for free. You want it, pay for it. Scientists still have to eat at the end of the day.

Would you turn over the running of your local Buddhist monastery to a televangelist and expect a good result?

Sweden is the first country to discard the low fat diet and adapt a more balanced diet including healthy fats. The US should do the same, it is the low fat craze that is making us sick and over weight. There is currently a class action suit against Lipitor for women who have an increased risk of diabetes. More are sure to follow. Cholesterol, at best, is a symptom. The standard tests used to test for cholesterol are inadequate and inaccurate.... atleast get the one that distinguishes the diff between two types of LDL. The interpretation of the tests is not adequate. The pharmas are managing the training in med schools... figure it out.